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About The Book

NAMED A 2023 ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN’S RECORDING!

Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin, had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.

About The Author

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. He’s also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright; My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

About The Readers

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. He’s also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright; My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (January 11, 2022)
  • Runtime: 37 minutes
  • ISBN13: 9781797137544
  • Grades: 7 and up
  • Ages: 12 - 99

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Raves and Reviews

"How do you create an amazing audiobook from an illustrated novel in which the vibrant art takes center stage? Author Jason Reynolds deftly narrates “Take One” of this collaboration between himself and mixed-media collage artist Jason Griffin. Together, they bring slam-poetry sensibilities to a brief yet evocative glimpse of an unnamed young Black narrator. His mother stays glued to the news, his father coughs endlessly, and his siblings search for meaning as he hunts fruitlessly for an oxygen mask. As Reynolds’s singular voice fades out, “Take Two” of this work hands the same spare, moving words to a full cast of outstanding narrators. They add layers of meaning as their voices weave together, blending uncertainty and hope as one person’s worries become everyone’s journey."

– Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award, AudioFile Magazine

"Virtuoso Reynolds’ latest is another chameleonic masterpiece, brilliantly consumable in various
mediums, each providing transporting rewards. The original collaboration, conceived between
best friends Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin, works best on the page: Reynolds’ glorious
words—cut-out phrases and sentences—laid over Griffin’s stupendous collaged spreads create
a visually spectacular literary feast. In the ears, Reynolds’ words carry the narration in one of the
most inventive recent audiobook adaptations/presentations: the book gets read twice, first by
Reynolds alone, then by a full cast. The former will surely be appreciated by purists, with
Reynolds intimately enhancing and amplifying every phrase, every pause, every beat exactly as
he intended. The latter repeats the exact same text, yet the experience turns the familiar into an
utterly altered experience with multiple voices ciphering contrasting interpretations. Both, of
course, resonate. And yet Reynolds’ embodiment of his three “Breaths”—a boy observing his TV
news-addicted mother, video-gaming brother, and protest-planning sister; the boy’s ill, coughing
father separated in another room; the boy struggling to breathe amidst systemic oppression but
finding solace among family—feels like an all-encompassing embrace. A final treat: a
provenance-revealing conversation between Reynolds and Griffin—“that’s all”—appends the
recording."

– Terry Hong, Booklist

Awards and Honors

  • School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
  • ALA Notable Children's Books
  • ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
  • Iowa Teen Award Nominee
  • Florida Teens Read Master List
  • Capital Choices Noteworthy Books for Children's and Teens (DC)
  • NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
  • Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
  • Charlotte Award Ballot (NY)
  • TAYSHAS Reading List (TX)
  • ALA Caldecott Honor
  • ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults - Top Ten
  • ALA Notable Children's Recording
  • In the Margins Top Ten List
  • Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Multicultural Books List
  • Rhode Island Middle School Book Award Nominee
  • ALA/YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults List
  • Dogwood Reader Award Final Nominee (MO)
  • White Raven Award

Resources and Downloads

More books from this author: Jason Reynolds